Ministers are unconscious to NHS issues

WE are proud grandparents. Our eldest grandchild – after 17 years’ training, coupled with bringing up two lively great-granddaughters – has qualified as a consultant anaesthetist, starting at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham, in September.

Great news, and just reward for a long period of effort.

However, less good news for us all is the 1,400 vacancies for anaesthetists within the UK. The Royal College of Anaesthetists predicts that by 2040, the shortfall will be 11,000, due to a combination of rising demand, an increasing population and an advance in average lifespan.

Sadly, the government doesn’t appear to have grasped this fact, for they’re not funding sufficient training places to meet the challenge, nor do they seem to be aware there is a problem with staff retention, as more attractive offers are widely available to all British-trained medics.

By way of illustration, consultants across the board are voting whether to accept the government’s latest pay offer, which could be a close call. Then again, GPs are currently voting on whether they’ll accept the GP contract for 2024/5. As the offer on the table is a mere 1.9%, you can guess the outcome.

Meanwhile, the government – while refusing to talk to junior doctors’ leaders when they are on strike – doesn’t appear to wish to talk to them when they’re not, taking the view that they can’t afford any more money this year.

As you can see, the medical profession as a whole is not very happy with their lot. But the worrying fact for us patients is that unless there is a change in the government’s attitude, the outlook for the principle of NHS healthcare across the board is pretty grim.

They have let the dental profession vote with their feet by refusing to pay them a fair rate for the job. The vast majority of patients now have to go private if they wish to have their teeth seen to.

If GPs decline the offered contract, then there will have to be a complete rethink on how to provide medical care for the population in the future.

Most politicians are pro-NHS, it would be silly to be otherwise. But they don’t seem to understand that a fair price must be paid.